The mysterious case of spontaneous disappearance of hepatocellular carcinoma

Digestive and Liver Disease : Official Journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver
P Del PoggioG Zabbialini

Abstract

We describe the case of a 77-year-old woman with chronic hepatitis C and well compensated cirrhosis in whom a single encapsulated 5.5 cm hepatocellular carcinoma was found in the right liver lobe. The patient was symptomatic with left upper quadrant pain and had elevated alfa-fetoprotein levels (3133 ng/ml). While she was waiting for liver resection and 2 months after the initial diagnosis the pain improved and alfa-fetoprotein levels normalized. A computerized tomography scan showed reduction in size of the lesion to 2.5 cm, with no central arterial enhancement, but with the demonstration of a peripheral rim enhancing in all dynamic phases. Follow up computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging examinations showed further reduction in size of the lesion to 1.3 cm with persistence of the enhancing rim 20 months after the initial diagnosis. The spontaneous and durable regression of the HCC and the persistent peripheral enhancing rim could be explained by a strong and persistent activation of the immune system directed against the neoplastic cells.

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Citations

May 15, 2010·Medical Oncology·Raul E StoreyDamian A Laber
Jan 19, 2011·BMC Gastroenterology·Rodolfo SaccoCarlo Bartolozzi
Jul 6, 2012·HPB : the Official Journal of the International Hepato Pancreato Biliary Association·Jonathan I HuzUmut Sarpel
Mar 24, 2009·European Journal of Cancer : Official Journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)·Jean-Claude BarbareLaurent Bedenne
Dec 22, 2009·American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons·M YeganehS Saab
Jul 14, 2012·Journal of Nippon Medical School = Nippon Ika Daigaku Zasshi·Tadashi YokoyamaEiji Uchida
Feb 23, 2019·European Radiology·Myeong-Jin KimChansik An

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